Ghostly Hosts
by Denebola Leo
Summary: Two hundred years after Meteorfall, Cloud and Tifa happily haunt their old inn. But sometimes, they need to pull on the leg of someone living... For the Cloti Discord Prompt Challenge: January Fluff.


"Here we have it, viewers! The abandoned Seventh Heaven Inn!" The young man in the front lawn waved a hand towards the inn, then locked eyes with Cloud's and then Zack's as they watched out the window. The two were gone before the stranger could position his camera for a better view.

Both of them flew into a fit of manly giggles.

"Where did you pick these rubes up again?" Cloud asked as they reclined against the wall.

Zack quickly glanced towards the window, then back at Cloud. "They were at a bar in that town down the road. It was too easy, man!"

Still smirking, Cloud pointed at him. "Yeah, but what are you gonna do when they see you? Don't need people putting two and two together."

"Pfft, I got an idea. I'll let you in on it."

"Cloud? What are you doing?"

"Ah, I better let her in on this." Cloud stood up.

"I already told Aerith, slowpoke." Zack was given a dismissive wave as his friend moved to the room down the hall and to the right.

Cloud peeked into their bedroom through the ceiling as he heard her calling him from below. Tifa was standing in front of their bed with her arms crossed and a brow quirked up on her pale face. Cloud floated down, then came up close to her and flashed a goofy smile. "Zack baited some thrill seekers into visiting the inn. Hope you don't mind if we play host again."

She tsked, but a shy smile was growing on her face. Tifa thought their pasttime was harmless, but a bit silly. Still... "You two love scaring people for kicks, I swear..."

Cloud chuckled, then rubbed her cheek with his thumb. "Hey, we gotta do something spooky once in a while."

Tifa let out a little snort, then shook her head weakly. "I don't know if I wanna join in this time..."

"Oh come on, Teef." He bumped his forehead into hers. "You love having an audience when you play your piano," he murmured.

She giggled a little. "Guess I'm still known as The Red Lady to the locals?"

"Mhm." He parted from her, still wearing a silly smile. "They'll be in here soon. We should get ready!"

"Alright."

Their inn resided on a lonesome cliffside, relatively close to what used to be called Healen Lodge. After Deepground rampaged Edge the cityfolk had become wary of living so close to what was seen as "cursed" or "unlucky" ruins, and so people began to move away. Many made their way to Junon, the city still the largest and most technologically advanced place on the Planet two hundred years after Meteorfall.

Cloud and Tifa decided to sell the bar quick to get enough cash to start over yet again. Cloud had found an old inn that he figured could be salvaged with some elbow grease and their friends. It was large, with twenty rooms for guests and their own living quarters in an area behind the kitchen. They raised their family there, tending to guests who traveled between Kalm and the Grassland area's many villages and towns. Cloud kept the area safe from monsters, helping business boom.

Their children weren't interested in keeping the tradition going, so they willed the place to Vincent. Cloud had said it would probably be creepy enough that their friend could find a few decades of peace away from everyone if he wanted to sleep in a basement again. It just hadn't occurred to them that Aerith and Zack would want them to hang around after they died.

It was an interesting afterlife, to say the least. Aerith explained that she had petitioned the Planet so that her dear friends who had helped save it more than once could do as she did and come to the world of the living when they wished, separating from the Lifestream at will like some ancient Cetra spirits still did. It wasn't a lonely or particularly boring existence for them, with a world to watch from time to time. And Zack.

And people to scare.

Cloud was glad Vincent helped them upkeep the inn when he was around. Daylight put a damper on everything they did with their semi-physical bodies, so they generally kept inside the inn during the day. Sometimes they would pretend to sleep on their old bed, snuggling up to each other under the blankets. Or they would play with the piano in the corner, or entertain Nanaki or Vincent when they visited the area. Sometimes they would bring descendants over for a visit, which was a nice change of pace for them.

During the night or an overcast day they were more active outside. Aerith would tend to the flower beds, Zack would take Cloud out for some shenanigans if they weren't maintaining the abode they decided to live in, and Tifa would clean the front of the inn and watch shooting stars if she wasn't going out for a stroll. Many a time Cloud would join her, and they would find themselves on a favored hillside, gazing at the stars or the sleepy village below.

Rarely they would have a stranger visit for shelter during bad weather, and the four would play host to them. They had dried food in their stores with Vincent's help(no need for any nearby townsfolk's curiosity about why an abandoned inn needed food), and plenty of beds. It was when they woke up that they would finally notice the nicely boarded up windows that looked like shades in the low light and that their hosts were strangely not present, while feeling eyes on them.

It was a quiet and nice afterlife.

A mumbled voice could be heard near the door. Cloud listened as he kept his fingers by the lock. "Dude, I really saw them!"

"That guy could have laid a trap for us, you know."

Oh, he did, Cloud thought.

He let them fumble with the door for a little before slowly releasing the lock, making it look as if it were just old and gave way and not at all new. He knew how to make an entrance for their victims; just enough creep to keep them interested. Invisible, he watched as the four cautiously walked into the front of the inn. Various tables littered the space directly in front of them, some small and round and others long and broad near the wall booths. All were suspiciously dust free to the thrill seekers, but Cloud knew Tifa ran a tight ship in her inn.

The bar and kitchen was opposite the door, with various colorful bottles glinting in what little sunlight was entering from behind them. The door to the kitchen was locked and barred. There was a large, stone fireplace to their right, and in the corner near it and the door was Tifa's piano, a gift Cloud had saved up for when they were in their thirties. He always loved her piano music.

He hoped these four would, too.

"Uh...So like, let's set up for our stay!"

One of the others, a tall fellow with dirty blond hair looked over his shorter friend's shoulder with a smug grin aimed at the recorder. "Yeah, we're gonna stay the night in a haunted inn!"

"Let's take a look upstairs!"

"I don't know about this," came the hesitant voice of reason in the group. "I still don't think this is a good idea, Jann..."

Jann, who was roughly Cloud's height, pushed away his brown bangs before putting down his video camera. "Nothin's gonna happen, Sabe. Maybe we'll hear some creaks and groans, but I doubt we'll see the Red Lady, or the Blue-eyed Killer, or—"

"Or Zack the Ripper, or the Flower Girl. I know." Sabe shuddered. "The Flower Girl doesn't sound so bad, but the others sound like they're from some horror flick."

Cloud suppressed a laugh. While Tifa gained her name from playing her piano in a beautiful red dress and Aerith because she was seen tending the flowers outside occasionally, he and Zack just pulled their ghost epithets out of nowhere. They were stupid and they knew it, and the two wore them with pride.

"They aren't real," came the fourth member of the group, lean and dark haired. "It's just rumors from a sleepy old village." He turned to the blond. "What d'you think, Ren?"

Ren shrugged. "I dunno. Guess we'll find out tonight, right Gabe?"

"My bet is on this being a big waste of time," Gabe replied.

The four walked towards the staircase, the wood creaking with their footsteps. As they made it halfway up the stairs Cloud slowly closed the front door, making sure the hinges made a long, groaning creak as he shut it. The one known as Sabe had taken the back of the group, and took a few steps down to investigate. His green eyes were wide and he was beginning to pale.

When he heard Cloud's ghostly giggle, he charged up the stairs yelling for his friends.

"Cloud!"

He floated back into their living quarters with a smile plastered to his face. "D'you need me, Teef? I'm kinda busy..."

She gave him a withering look that quickly grew into a playful grin. "You're gonna make them leave before the rest of us have some fun."

He let out a chuckle, and she ruffled his blond spikes. "Sorry."

Aerith appeared right next to Tifa. "Tifa and me can come up with something. I bet we'll scare them more than you and Zack!"

Zack was hanging his arm around Cloud and squeezing him close. "Nuh-uh. We're scarier!"

"You two are the furthest thing from scary," Tifa playfully challenged. It wasn't a competition since they had to work in tandem, but they would see who got the most gasps and screams.

Cloud pouted a little, and Zack scoffed. "C'mon, Spike. Let's show the girls how to spook guests!"

It wasn't much longer until darkness descended upon the inn. The four guests had brought lights with them to see, but hadn't yet tried to venture downstairs. They had been busy exploring the guest rooms, finding boards covering the windows under each thick curtain. The four ghosts behaved as the guests slowly came out of their shells, not making a peep until the proper hour for the start of their little contest.

A little past eleven and the young adults made their way down the stairs to the dining area with the help of their flashlights. Aerith started the fun by making the lights in their hands dim down to the tiniest yellow glow, leaving them in a blanket of darkness. Panicked smacking at the flashlights began before she let them go back to full power; she wanted to toy with them a little first and warm them up for Tifa.

"There we go...Damn, I put fresh batteries in before we left the bedrooms," Jann mumbled.

Gabe tsked. "We still have the little light on your video recorder."

"That's not much light to find our way out," Sabe pointed out.

"Who said anything about leaving?" Jann moved his flashlight around, then found the partially opened door that led to an old liquor store, the garage, and the steps to the basement. It was behind the counter, near the still locked living quarters. He started to move towards it.

"Don't you think it's a bit too clean in here?" Sabe whined. "We might be trespassing."

"Yeah. That dude must be an ax murderer, and we're gonna be his next victims," Gabe joked.

"Not funny!"

"I agree, that's not funny," Zack whispered as he peeked from the staircase with Cloud. "I am totally gonna slay with this idea, though."

"I dunno, Zack. It seems kinda silly."

Tifa bent down from behind them, a finger at her lips. "Guys, hush! You'll scare them off."

The four thrill seekers found themselves in an empty garage. Fenrir was given to Vincent for safe keeping, and Cloud looked over what would always be his baby when his friend came to the inn. He stalked the group, invisible and floating above and behind them as they looked at the Fusion Sword, free of rust and still sharp. Ren's fingers came close to the razor edge as it rested on the work table. "Guys, This is kinda—"

Cloud came close to his ear. "Don't," he whispered softly. He wanted to scare them, but he didn't want them harmed. The Fusion Sword wasn't for whippersnappers.

The blond haired guest jolted away from the table and looked around wildly. "D-did you guys hear that?!"

Gabe turned away from the closed garage doors to Ren. "Hear what?"

"Someone whispered in my ear!"

The dark haired man shrugged dismissively, his burgundy eyes going from Ren to Sabe. "Bet he did it, he's been BSing about voices the whole time."

As Sabe stuttered Ren rolled his eyes. "It wasn't him." He motioned towards the sword. "I'm wondering if that guy murders with a sword and not an ax."

Jenn looked over the sword. "Yeah. It looks new...But who could hold that up?" He tried lifting it by the handle and failed. "Eh, whatever."

Aerith suppressed a giggle as she made just enough noise in the basement to entice the bravest of them. A few rattling items that maybe a mouse had moved. The bait worked, and the guests crept towards the basement door, then down the stairs they went. Sabe stayed frozen at the top of the steps. He hesitantly went down them as he heard a joyful shout from Jenn.

"Wow, check it out!" Jenn was looking over piles of boxes, full of possessions. There was a water tank in the corner, the flame suspiciously still on. He walked over and bent down to investigate. "The lights didn't work when we tried them earlier...Why's a pilot light working?"

Ren looked around with his flashlight. "Probably so the sword murderer can take a hot bath after he's done butchering us," he said lightly. He gasped as his flashlight passed over Aerith for an instant, a smile on her face before disappearing. "Oh—"

"What was it?!"

"I think that was the Flower Girl," Sabe muttered. "Guys, let's get out of here before things get worse..."

Cloud and Zack snickered upstairs as Aerith gave them a thumbs up. They began walking through the hall and dining area with heavy, slow steps, while trying not to burst out laughing. The two walked towards the door, opened it up, then shut it closed. Cloud waved at Tifa; it was her turn to start.

The four begrudgingly decided to go upstairs to investigate the dining room again, Sabe muttering that they should leave before anything happened and Gabe insisting they were seeing things. The beams of their flashlights found nothing amiss.

Sabe sucked in a breath. "Can we leave now? I-I think we've seen enough—"

By their reckoning the piano began to play by itself. It was sweet and gentle, tickling their ears like the sound of a bonny spring rain. They were more confused than scared, until the fireplace lit up by itself. It wrapped the dining room in a warm orange glow, illuminating Tifa as she played the piano in a simple red dress.

"The Red Lady!"

Her head turned to the side as Jann nearly shouted out her nickname. "It's a hundred gil a night for a room, boys."

Ren turned to Jann, a serious expression on his face. "Hey, do we have that kinda gil?"

Jann rolled his eyes. "Ghosts don't need gil! Now get outta the way, we got proof that there's spooks here!"

Tifa shook her head, but continued playing as a smile crept on her face. "I'm sorry, but if you don't have the gil, you'll have to sleep out in the chocobo stables in the back."

Gabe looked her up and down. He still wasn't convinced this wasn't an extravagant prank. "We'll make use of what rooms we want."

Aerith popped up from behind the piano, then sat next to Tifa while facing the four. "That's too bad. The boys will have to see you out, then."

There was a clomping noise upstairs that headed down the flight of stairs. Into the glow of the fire came...two humanoid shapes covered in sheets. there were holes for eyes in them. Tifa turned around to look at them, then frowned hard when she noticed that those were some of the good linens.

Zack moved his hands under the sheet. "Boooooo! We're scary ghosts!"

Cloud mimicked him a little. He looked like he was getting a little tangled in the sheet. "Boo."

The four guests looked a little taken aback, then felt as if their leg had been pulled this evening. Gabe rolled his eyes. "I knew this was just a prank."

"What, not scary enough for you?" Zack waved his arms a little more.

Cloud was trying to detangle his wrist as a few threads wrapped around it. He would have dematerialized, but then the whole sheet would have fallen off. "I'm the Blue-eyed Killer," he announced.

Gabe grabbed at the sheet. "I bet you are!" He tugged it off.

Cloud didn't think he looked that jarring, but he supposed since Tifa and Aerith looked completely normal, an etheral looking being with bright blue eyes and a shock of blond hair would be out of left field right now. Especially since his feet weren't even touching the ground. He blinked a few times, then put on a grim face. "I'm the Blue-eyed Killer!" he repeated in as spooky a voice as he could muster.

"I'm Zack the Ripper!" He pulled off his sheet to reveal his ghostly visage, but he had a ski mask covering his face.

Tifa shoved Jann out of the way, then grabbed the sheet Gabe was still holding. She shook it in front of Cloud. "What did you two do to my linens?!"

"Uh..."

She snapped her head towards the four guests. "Get out of here, now!" Tifa turned back to Cloud and Zack. "They're fifty years old and you two ruined them for this!"

Zack waved his hands in front of him. He looked to Aerith for some sort of back up, but she looked ready to burst out laughing. His eyes went back to Tifa. "T-Tifa, we needed disguises—"

"No you didn't!"

"Teef, they're not even that great. This one had loose threads," Cloud pointed out.

Ren regained his voice. "What the hell is going on...?"

"Shut up!" Tifa roundhouse kicked him away, then grabbed Cloud by his ghostly ear. "You're coming with me, Cloud!"

"Teef!"

Sabe ran to the locked front door and tried opening it. "To hell with this!"

"What about our stuff?" asked a dumbfounded Jann.

"Don't care, leaving!"

Sabe continued to shake the door until Aerith came up to him. He froze, then with a playful grin Aerith unlocked the door. "Don't step on the flowers. They won't find the bodies if you do," she said sweetly before fading away.

The door was swung open and Sabe ran into a man that was standing nearby. He was tall and sinister, with black hair and blood red eyes in the faint light that came from the inn. He looked down at the meek young man, then the other three. One was holding his side and the other two looked like they had witnessed a murder. He quirked up a brow as his eyes fell on Zack, the ghost still wearing a ski mask. He cheerfully waved.

"Hey, Vincent! Here to join the fun?"

"I'm gettin' outta here, before they murder us!" Gabe ran past, then the other three as well. Vincent watched them leap into their vehicle and floor it when they finally got it to start. It rumbled off into the night, then disappeared down the cliffside road.

Vincent walked into the inn and looked about. He could hear Tifa yelling somewhere, and it was probably at Cloud. "What did you do this time?" he finally asked.

Aerith reappeared next to Zack. "Just had a little fun with some young people, that's all."

"They had a recorder," Vincent pointed out.

She shrugged. "And I'm good at interfering with stuff like that," she replied with a cheeky smile.

A couple of nights later, Cloud and Tifa sat on their favorite spot that gave a view of the town below the starry sky. She had calmed down when she had seen just how worn the sheets had actually been, and Vincent said he would help purchase some new ones.

He looked over at her with a cheesy smile. "Hey, after that little fiasco the other day, do you think we should reopen the inn?"

Tifa cocked her head. "Four ghosts keeping an inn, not just spooking people for kicks?"

Cloud let out a little chuckle. "Well, I kinda miss actual hosting. Don't you?"

"Yeah. It's been a while since I cooked for a lot of people..."

"Vincent said he'd help. I bet it'd be a lot of fun for the five of us." Cloud put his arm around Tifa's shoulders, and looked up at the starry sky.

Tifa had a warm smile grow on her face. "Yeah. And maybe those four can come back and pick up their luggage."

The two laughed quietly as they watched over the peaceful nighttime setting, deciding together that they would like to do what they did in life again.


End file.
